The global production of glass containers in 2015 was 50.63MM/t and is estimated to reach 65.42MM/t by 2022, at a CAGR of 3.73%, according to the latest research by Research and Markets. In terms of revenue, the market was worth US$ 51.76BN in 2015, which is expected to reach US$ 70.86BN by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate of 4.59%. The APAC region leads the market with a market share of 33.7% in 2015 while, on the other hand, Europe had a share of 28.7% during the same period. Added to this, estimated growth rate in glass bottle end use sectors, i.e. the beer industry in India, will further boost the sales and increase market share in the APAC region. Glass bottles are preferred over plastic bottles because of its chemical inertness towards the alcohol and thus, can be substituted. The suppliers in N America adopt sustainable methods such as recycling and reusing glass bottles. Factors like increasing disposable incomes, growing acceptability of alcohol consumption are mainly driving the market in APAC region. Glass bottles are the preferred source of packaging for beer products. Majority of beer volume was sold in glass bottles while the other suibitute being plastic bottles. Cost advantage and other properties also drive the marke. However, it is losing its share in the saturated markets like the USA and Western Europe. In India, however, this market is growing significantly, thanks to the greater penetration level availability from the end user perspective. Industry trends, such as light weight and sustainability, are being focused on more. Almost 30% of the glass bottles weight was reduced during the past decade. Since the profit margin is low for glass bottle manufacturers (8-10%), this trend would benefit the companies to reduced raw material cost. Glass packaging is witnessing an increase in competition from other packaging materials.
